


Conflux

by Inkn1ght1



Category: Baahubali (Movies)
Genre: Canon Divergent, F/F, Fix-It, a conversation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-05
Updated: 2018-12-05
Packaged: 2019-09-12 02:16:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,471
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16864321
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Inkn1ght1/pseuds/Inkn1ght1
Summary: When two strong rivers meet, there is a choice- either one of them will surrender to the other's might and merge with it, or they  could flood the plain and destroy life. A third choice is when they have a conversation.





	Conflux

**Author's Note:**

  * For [MayavanavihariniHarini](https://archiveofourown.org/users/MayavanavihariniHarini/gifts).



 

 

“Princess Devasena,” Amarendra’s mother had said. “Do join me for lunch.”

 

  
Queen Mother Sivagami Devi had decided to take her lunch in the Small Garden. Small, Devasena decided, as she walked down the stone path, was relative.

The garden occupied roughly two thousand square feet atop a huge terrace that thrust out of palace. There were several such terraces, and balconies scattered over the palace grounds. Some supported towers, others provided space for utility areas or other gardens. Her escort informed her that there was a larger garden, a Wild trees Park garden, A vine garden, a lotus pond garden,.... Devasena stopped listening.

Kuntalan people loved nature, but where on Kuntala a garden meant a carefully cultivated space, organized, planned, and often offering a variety of plants from all over the place, a garden in Mahishmati was basically a chunk of preserved wilderness. It was a carefully tended wilderness, pruned, managed, and well loved, but every plant in it was natural to the area. The gardeners planted extra flowers and encouraged picturesque shrubs and native herbs, but it would never occur to them to transplant flowers from one kingdom to another. If they saw a butterfly bush of Nagadesam in a garden among the native sunflowers and marigolds, they would’ve pulled it out as a weed.

The garden around Devasena showcased the best this zone had to offer. Tall hydrangeas with blade leaves and pale purple flowers rose on both sides of the path. Their heavy blooms stooping the branches towards the ground. Beside the shrubs, delicate pink and white flowers bloomed on small vines overflowing from little clay pots, painted bright colours. The flowers had a red centre, and spiky leaves, so as to survive on as little water as possible.Ahead of her, where the path curved she could see a cluster of Snowy orchid trees. Tall stems supported wide blossoms, shaped like lotuses with a wealth of white petals. Snow white blossoms, as big as her hand, spread their tissue thin petals, meeting in the flower’s. Long stamens, shivering with yellow anthers, dripped glittering pollen on to their neighbors’ leaves. The air smelled of spice.  
And still ahead where the different colours of hibiscus; a pink flower seemed to be bigger than her head. She also spied a rare orange hibiscus, the wild variety with a bunch of petals crushed together, not the ones with spread out petals.   
Sumitra would have a field day here.  
The path ended in a large circle. A stream ran in a ring, sectioning off the center of the path into a round island. A single frangipani tree grew in the circle, not one of the massive giants, but a more shrubby counterpart. Its branches sayed with the wind. It spread its dark branches bearing blade like leaves and Soft white flowers with a yellow centre over the water of the stream and the small stone table with two chairs, one empty and the other occupied by Lady Sivagami.

Here we go. Devasena walked across the stone bridge. The older woman looked at her.

“So you’ve made it after all. Excellent.”

Devasena bowed and took her seat. A plate was already set in front of her. A large platter held an assortment of fried foods and an assortment of meats and fruit on small skewers. Finger foods. A tall glass pitcher offered wine.

Sivagami leaned back in her chair, sitting sideways, one long leg over the other, her left arm resting in the table. Up close, the resemblance between her and Bhallaladeva was unmistakable. Same hair, same determined look in the dark piercing eyes, same stubborn angle of the jaw. A lunch with the Rajmata of Mahishmati.

“Your face was thoughtful as you walked the path,” Sivagami asked.

How much to say? “I was thinking about my family.”

“Oh?”

“When the two of us, my brother, and I, were growing up in our parents’ palace, each of us was responsible for a specific area of the court. My brother's was the gardens. He would love it here. So would my sister-in-law”

“What was yours?”

“Stables.”

“I would’ve never guessed. You have no mount or pet.”

Devasena didn't reply.

Sivagami picked up a pitcher and filled their glasses.

Devasena lifted the glass to her lips and took a small sip of wine. The older woman was watching her carefully.

They sipped their wine. The pressure was mounting inside Devasena with every passing second.

“You didn’t ask me here to talk about my family,” Devasena said.

“You’re not very good with silences,” Sivagami said. “Something to work on.”

Devasena reached out, took a skewer of small yellow berries, and slid one into her mouth.

  
“Do you love my son? Sivagami asked.

“Yes.” The answer came with surprising ease.

Sivagami stared at her. “Then do something about it.”

Devasena opened her mouth and clicked it shut.

“What do you want from me?” devasena growled.

“You’ve been here for three days. This is the first time we are having a civil conversation.”

  
"What happened in the court the first day wasn't my fault."

"Its debatable. Why didn't you come to me later?"

Devasena's fingers fisted under the table.

“I want Amarendra to be happy.”

Sivagami sighed and drank her wine.

  
"When Amarendra was born, and I took responsibility for him, I knew it was a thankless job. Same with my Bhalla."

  
Devasena had no idea what to say, so she stayed silent.

“Children leave,” Sivagami told her. “It is the greatest tragedy of motherhood that if you have done everything right, if you have raised them in confidence and independence, they will pick up and leave you. When you have children, you will realise it. It is as it’s meant to be. Baahu has chosen his path”

Anxiety pierced Devasena. She swallowed, trying to keep it under wraps.

“If I tried to hold and restrain him, I will be committing an irreparable sin. He would choose you. A mother shouldn’t hobble her young.Your child will choose his own path too. He will go One day it will be just you, Devasena.”

“I understand,” Devasena murmured. She didn't. But she could see where the Rajmata spoke from. It was a place of love.

“Where do you see yourself when that day comes?” Sivagami asked.

She knew where she wanted to be but getting there was so complicated.

“So I’ll ask again. Why didn't you come? Are you trying to out- wait me? because nothing you do will change the circumstances of our first meeting. If my son had wanted to marry someone I approved of, I have a veritable list. Do you consider yourself inferior to us? Do you hate your farming nation?”

Devasena raised her head. “I have no desire to pretend I’m one of you.”  
Mahishmati didn't impress her.

“Then what is it?” Sivagami raised her voice.

Something inside devasena snapped like a thin glass rod breaking.

“You tried to barter me away. Amarendra has the kingdom, so a crown princess for Bhallaladeva evened the scales. I have no value to you outside of my kingdom. You don't see the love your son has for me, nor the respect he gives me. You are only concerned with how he took out his sword in the court against you. If I had come to you, what guarantee do I have that you would treat me with the respect I deserve as a woman and not just a crown princess. And It would further deteriorate any relationship we could have."

  
She took a deep breath. Sivagami didn't say anything.  
"Amarendra loves us both. I will not make him choose. I won’t. I can’t invest into building a new life where I pry my husband from his mother. I don’t want to be here. I don’t trust you. If I had my way, I would spend my whole life never stepping a foot on the soil of Mahishmati, but I can’t let him go. I’ve tried. So I decided to fight for him. I have to ensure that you will never turn on me. I don’t want Amarendra to marry an outsider, who is barely tolerated. I want him to marry someone who is valued by his mother. Someone who is indispensable. I want that marriage to be seen as a win for Mahishmati, so I will have a place here not because of your son, but because of me.”

She’d said too much. Where did it even come from? She had no idea that’s what she wanted until the words came out of her.

Screw it. She said and she very much meant it. Every damn word.

Silence lay between them. A light breeze stirred the frangipani trees.

Sivagami arched her eyebrows and took a sip of her wine. “Now that? That, I understand.”  
And she smiled. 

**Author's Note:**

> This fic is based on the Chapter 10, part 1 of Sweep of Blade (Innkeeper Chronicles) a free serial by Ilona Andrews on their blog. It has space travel, alien vampire warriors, werewolves and fluffy 3 ft tall assassin foxes.  
> Most of the setting and conversation in this fanfic is directly influenced by the chapter with a lot of changes made due to Baahubali movies not having any vampires or space travel or fluffy foxes.


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